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Cops: Mom insult may have led to fatal Altgeld Gardens shooting

By William Lee

Tribune reporter

11:57 AM EDT, September 5, 2011

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A 29-year-old man was shot dead during a late-night fight at his home in the Altgeld Gardens public housing complex on the city's Far South Side after insulting the gunman's mother, Chicago police said today.

A small quarrel in the 600 block of East 133rd Street quickly escalated into a brawl involving more than 100 people that ended with a man pulling a handgun and shooting the victim in the chest at about 10:25 p.m. Sunday in an Altgeld Gardens parking lot, police said, citing preliminary reports.

Nicholas Jackson, who lived in a unit in the Altgeld Gardens public housing complex where the shooting took place, was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead a short time later, police said.

While Calumet Area detectives were still gathering details on the shooting, early reports indicated that an insult made against one of the combatant's mothers directly led to the brawl and may have led to the shooting, according to a police source.

The shooting wasn't considered gang-related though everyone involved was believed to be members of an area street gang, the source added.

The chaos that erupted from the brawl made it difficult for emergency medical technicians to get to the shooting scene, authorities said.

Police didn't have a detailed description of the gunman and police hadn't made any arrests.